A Pastor in The Northwest

In my morning time with the Lord, I was moved by these words from Isaac Watts: Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord, And thus surround the throne. Isaac Watts, 1674–1748   Manser, M., ed. (2015). Daily Guidance (p. 51). Martin Manser. Now, these words form the first verse of an old hymn we used to sing back in the day at the little First Christian Church of Sheridan, Oregon. Until today, I didn't realize that the title of the hymn was different than the chorus from my childhood memory, which is: We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion! We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God! Truth be told, this hymn has a theological perspective on eternity and heaven that I may push back a bit on now as I'm older, but I love the scene painted by those words of worship in the verse.  I can imagine the disciples of Jesus singing and letting our joys be known, and together surrounding God's eternal throne...

This past weekend at Dallas Church, one of our preaching team members David taught us through Luke chapter 7.  In his takeaway, he encouraged us to trust Jesus to be transformed. It made me ponder the idea of transformation.  As a kid, I was into the Transformer toys.  I loved how the toys could be 2 different things: both vehicles and, with a few configuration changes, warrior robots. Amazing. As Christ-followers, we are called into transformation by our faith in Jesus.  In choosing to follow Him, we adopt His ways and soak in more and more of His work and teachings so that we are, slowly but surely, made new. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then yo...

I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea of mercy.   Songs have been written about it.   Movies have been made about it. People often ask for it.  Often, we are quite stingy with it. Mercy.   By definition, according to the smart people behind Merriam-Webster:  compassion, leniency, or restraint (as in imposing punishment) shown especially to an offender or to one subject to the power of another I've thought of mercy as not receiving punishment or a judgment that is well deserved. Unfortunately, our natural tendency is to want mercy for ourselves but justice for others. I want to be a person of mercy.   As Paul David Tripp wrote in his New Morning Mercies collection of devotionals,  "And as you begin to remember that God's mercy is your only hope and you meditate on the grandeur of the mercy that has been showered on you, you begin to want to help others experience that same mercy." Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord ha...

Sometimes Christ-followers get caught up in discussions and speculations on issues like the end times.  We can read passages that speak of the great day of the Lord or judgment or even new heavens and earth, but I fear that we might miss the point. Jesus didn't give us a clear and detailed roadmap and timeline for His second coming, but He did tell us how to handle life until that day.  He called His followers to be active participants in His kingdom work! We have roles to play, gifts and abilities to leverage, and people who need hope all around us.  As Matthew 24:44-46 states, " You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.  A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.  If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward." May we live out our 'active participant' roles until He comes ...

I read this today from commonprayer.net : On January 12, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi began his last successful fast in New Delhi to convince Hindus and Muslims in the city to work toward peace. Six days later, convinced that harmony was achieved, he ended the fast. For most of his adult life, Gandhi read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount every morning, convinced that it contained a truth more powerful than the empire that occupied his native India or the enmity that divided Hindus and Muslims. Through “experiments in truth” like the public fast, he sought to put Jesus’ teachings into practice for the sake of peace. Gandhi said, “Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.” Although I may not agree with everything Gandhi did and believed, I can still admire his courage, bravery, and his practices of fasting and prayer.   I do believe those disciplines, directed at our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ, can move mo...

I've said it before, and it bears repeating...waiting on the Lord is not an easy ride or simple virtue. No, i t is work!   It is frustrating at times.   It is yielding and surrender, which, for most of us, is challenging to say the least.   Yet, that is the call for all who choose to follow Messiah Jesus.  In fact, His call is STILL for people, by faith, to follow Him.  Where He goes, we're to follow Him.  He's the shot-caller.  He's the Lord and the authority. Ugh - easier said than done.   Yet, we can look at the example of people like Noah who had to wait many, many years for God to work and, when God's plan began to be revealed, Noah had to wait even longer for fulfillment - even spending a lot of time on the ocean in a smelly, creaky boat full of filthy animals! God, empower us to wait on You to renew our strength and bring Your will to fulfillment both now and not yet. Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash